‘The Shakedown’, directed and co-written by Ari Kruger, was released earlier this month and is South Africa’s first original Amazon Prime Video film. The film, which is set in Cape Town, features an epic local cast you’ll no doubt recognise.
Our team at Pressure Cooker Studios handled both the Original Music Composition and Audio on this brilliant crime comedy.
You might know Ari Kruger from Suzelle DIY and multi-award winning Tali Babes fame. The Shakedown is his first feature film and we know we can expect great things to come from this talent.
Ari was very generous with his time and sat down with us at his local coffee shop one morning to answer some of our questions. We love getting insights into Directors’ creative brains, so that we can share them with you.
What was your vision for the film?
I wanted to create a fun, slightly outrageous, and inherently South African film with a lot of heart. I’ve always had a fascination with the underworld of South Africa, and the fact that it is so ‘disorganised’ gives room for a lot of levity.
This underworld is also a lot closer to the surface of ‘normal life’ than most people realise, and I wanted to bring these two worlds together in a comedic and relatable way.
What was your brief to Pressure Cooker Studios?
James from Pressure Cooker Studios actually approached me and pitched their music ideas for the film. He knocked it out the park with his detailed and carefully considered pitch where he hadn’t only considered the score but commercial music that we could use in some scenes. They had this idea of using a folklore song which aligned with the Jewish nature of the film and would be used during scenes to heighten the comedic element I was going for. This folklore melody was then used in different ways throughout the score.
How did the Music elevate your filmmaking process and the storytelling?
Having a solid idea of the music direction upfront during pre-production really helped during the prep phase of the film and even influenced some of our decisions. Like having the opera music for the Blue Beanie Gang safe cutting scene.
The music gave the film a strong personality and unique voice upfront, which was really valuable to me.
Having the music considered during the early stages meant we also got to work with actual music during the edit, instead of temp music. I can’t imagine working any other way going forward, it makes a huge difference to the creative process.
The music is really unexpected, it feels both heartfelt and dangerous, and this gives the entire film more depth than a film with a ‘generic’ score.
Do you have any advice for up and coming Director’s with regards to tackling music for their films?
The music should be discussed upfront! You would work with a composer from the script and story stages. This means you can come up with an approach to the music that has substance, and is linked to something deeper.
Try not to use temp music in the edit and only slap the final music on after the fact, it can disrupt the creative process.
What would you do differently next time?
With regards to Music and Audio, nothing!
For the shooting stage of the film though, if I had the opportunity to do it over again, I would spend more time rehearsing and refining the fight scenes. One of the fight scenes was shot in the middle of the night in a residential apartment building and our actors had to do it without making any sound, this was quite difficult as you can imagine. In fact the ADR process helped this scene feel more authentic in the edit, we brought in actors to record fight noises which saved this scene that I’d been agonising over. It was another example of how imperative quality sound design is for a film. The whole ADR process went a lot easier than I had expected actually and felt like it blended in more than it usually does, so I am grateful to Alec and the rest of the audio team for this.
What was your experience working with Pressure Cooker Studios?
It was valuable having Music and Audio all done under one roof. The communication between the team internally is great, and it meant that any changes we needed could be done quickly and easily.
There is also such a good company culture which you feel in everyone that works there, and it makes a huge difference to work in that space, when you feel that energy. You know that everything aligns with a bigger vision.
It reminds me of the company culture that we had at Sketchbook when we had a bigger team,, and I really felt and appreciated that positive energy.
Thank you Ari!
Do yourselves a favour and give the film a watch.
